


The Only Exception

by anexorcist



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-19
Updated: 2012-01-19
Packaged: 2017-12-04 19:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/714425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anexorcist/pseuds/anexorcist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim wakes up and has to pinch himself every time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Exception

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the song by Paramore.

Tim wakes up and has to pinch himself every time -  _bring me back bring me back it isn't real I'm awake_. He dreams of echoes and empty houses and cars pulling out of the driveway and hands on his shoulders and lips pressed to his face, lips that mouth _goodbye_ , lips he doesn't see because he only sees backs growing smaller in the distance.

Tim pinches himself, a reminder. That he isn't his parents.

That what he has with Jason won't end the same way his parents' marriage did, distant and quiet, continents away, until  _poof_ , nothing.

He hopes, desperately wishes, that what they have will last. That they don't end up like his parents because one and a half of them are already dead.

Because no, he doesn't want to lose Jason and he doesn't want to lose half of himself. It's too lonely, he thinks, lonelier than when he was a little boy in a big empty house.

(And Jason's bigger, it would take longer for his broad shoulders to turn into a tiny dot in the distance until  _poof_ , nothing, and he burns brighter too, he'd leave a trail of ashes for Tim to lie in, even when he's gone).

Tim wakes up and has to pinch himself every time. Lies awake in the dark until his breathing slows, until reality swims back to him. Until.

Until Jason curls his arm around Tim's chest and pulls him close, in, like an oven, puffs air against the back of Tim's neck, blowing away his dreams, his memories, until  _poof_ , nothing. Nothing but Jason and Tim and Jason's arms and their bed and the moon and a small apartment that's filled to the brim with them. Together.

Still, sometimes Tim wakes up not knowing what's real and what isn't.

Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night or too early in the dark morning, with the memory of  _goodbye_  and the feeling of  _alone_. (But never for long, Jason always drags him back, like an anchor).

Sometimes. Jason lets him sleep in until mid-afternoon, right before the sun begins to set. And when Tim wakes, Jason feeds him, with more than just food. With kisses and laughter, a warm belly and a warm chest, and warm hands.

Tim wakes up and has to pinch himself every time.

Because when he dreams, he dreams of cramped apartments and big rooms in a bigger manor and sleek cars pulling into a dim cave. He dreams of hands around his shoulders and lips pressed to his face, lips that mouth  _I love you_  and  _always_  and  _Tim_ , lips he kisses back. He dreams of a broad, leather-clad back growing smaller in the distance, but when he wakes, it's to the back's owner returning.

Tim wakes up and has to pinch himself every time.

And he smiles, because he finds that everything he dreamed of is real.


End file.
